How did I become an F1 driver?

Verstappen's starting position in the race is undoubtedly great news for Qin Miao.

As long as he operates properly, Qin Miao will most likely win another race championship.

After the qualifying round, the drivers' qualifying rankings are as follows:

1: Charles Leclerc (1:34.723)

2: Qin Miao

3: Hamilton

4: Norris
5: Sainz
6: Verstappen

7: Gasly
8: O'Connell

9: Perez
10: Piastri
In fact, if you have to say it, this qualifying race was a bit of a pity for Qin Miao, because in the last flying lap of the qualifying race, his speed was very close to Leclerc, and the difference between their results was only 0.009 seconds.

With such a short time, you can basically grab the advantage by stepping on the gas a little earlier when exiting the corner, but sometimes, as the saying goes, details determine success or failure.

A gap of 0.009 seconds may seem unfortunate, but such a big gap is the same as a gap of 0.1 or 0.2 seconds.

There's nothing we can do about it, this is F1.

Slower than the fourth one... No, he can’t even be called the fourth one now.

Slower than Leclerc is an established fact.

Based on Qin Miao's understanding of Leclerc, it is rare for him to be able to surpass him in the qualifying round. During the post-race interview after the race, this guy will definitely be angry with him.

And it turned out that Qin Miao's guess was not wrong.

After the qualifying race, Qin Miao returned to the vehicle inspection area. Leclerc, who had just gotten off the car and taken off his helmet after the post-race celebration, came to Qin Miao with a smile on his face. He looked at Qin Miao and said amiably, "Are you unlucky today?"

Qin Miao rolled his eyes in annoyance, but because the helmet blocked Leclerc's view, he couldn't see Qin Miao's expression at the moment, so Qin Miao's eye roll was like a dog showing it to him.

Seeing that Qin Miao had no interest in talking, Leclerc didn't feel bored either. He smiled and patted Qin Miao on the shoulder and said, "It was a close win. It won't be that easy to beat you next time."

To be honest, seeing Leclerc's smug look, Qin Miao really wanted to kick him in the ass, but considering that this was the post-race interview stage, the live camera was locked on the three drivers who took the top three places.

If Qin Miao gave the unit driver a kick in the butt at this time, he would inevitably be dragged to participate in community activities again.

So Qin Miao still controlled his inner impulse.

But Qin Miao was not the kind of person who would not fight back or retaliate after being disgusted, so Qin Miao opened his palm and slapped Leclerc hard on the back.

Although it couldn't be said that this slap had any internal force, it still made Leclerc cough.

Qualifying has come to an end, but after all, this Grand Prix weekend is a sprint race weekend, so there is still a lot to deal with.

After completing all the procedures for the qualifying race, Qin Miao returned to the team's P room and began to modify the settings to be used in tomorrow's sprint qualifying stage.

The next day, Qin Miao had just arrived at the paddock to work when Barber told him a good news. After consulting with representatives of other teams, the FIA ​​decided to widen the white lines on the outside of the T9, T12 and T19 tracks.

The reason is not difficult to guess. After all, many drivers had their qualifying results cancelled because they exceeded the track limits of these turns during the qualifying stage.

The most typical example is naturally Verstappen. His result was cancelled because he exceeded the track limit in T9 on the last flying lap.

Of course, this change is a good thing for all drivers in a sense.

Because the range after exiting the corner is larger, you can naturally do lap times faster, and you can also be more relaxed when passing these corners than before.

Moreover, the modified white line has extended to a large area outside the track.

You even have to go beyond the shoulder of the road to make your outer tires hit the white lines, not to mention that there is grass outside the white lines. If you want all four wheels to go beyond the white lines, your entire car has to go into the grass.

Therefore, in these few turns, there is basically no need to worry about the car exceeding the track limits and having its qualifying results cancelled.

Also because of this modification, all drivers' lap times increased during the sprint qualifying session on Saturday morning.

The ten drivers who entered SQ3 in the sprint qualifying phase were the same as the ten drivers who entered Q3 in yesterday's qualifying phase.

There were no surprises in Q3 of the sprint race.

Pan Zi was not hindered by his teammates and won the pole position in the sprint qualifying in green and purple on the last lap.

Qin Miao returned to his faithful second place, 0.044 seconds behind Verstappen.

Third was Leclerc, 0.011 seconds behind Qin Miao.

After the qualifying race was over, Qin Miao became the weird person in the post-race vehicle inspection area.

"Hey, isn't this Leclerc? I haven't seen him for just one day, and he has become so rubbish?"

Leclerc: "What bad luck... Why did it have to be 0.011 seconds off?"

Qin Miao also smiled and patted Leclerc on the shoulder and said, "It was a close win. I was just lucky."

"roll roll roll!"

Compared to Qin Miao's speechless expression yesterday afternoon, Leclerc was obviously more angry and frustrated at this time.

After all, after you have pretended to be cool, the person you are pretending to be like will pretend to be cool in the same way in front of you, and you will indeed feel more uncomfortable than normal.

The sprint stage in the afternoon was also quite smooth.

In the sprint race, Qin Miao's starting position was on the inside of the track, and his starting speed was obviously faster than Verstappen.

If he continued running normally, Qin Miao would be able to overtake Verstappen at the start.

After Verstappen discovered Qin Miao's starting advantage, he also knew that if he didn't do something, he would definitely be overtaken by Qin Miao with an incredible late braking in T1.

So after Verstappen started, he kept squeezing Qin Miao towards the inside of the track.

Verstappen squeezed Qin Miao almost madly, pushing him directly to the edge of the left side of the track.

It almost pushed Qin Miao onto the grass at the edge of the track.

Qin Miao did not choose to confront Verstappen this time. He kept retreating and finally retreated to the edge of the track.

The reason why Qin Miao was so generous at this time was because Qin Miao knew that no matter what, after he had an advantage at the start, his advantage would always exist until T1, and it would be much easier to control Verstappen than under normal circumstances.

The retreat at this time is to kill Verstappen in T1.

You are arrogant first, and when you get to T1, I will kill you. In the end, it was proved that Verstappen's operation was useful, but not very useful.

Before the two entered the braking point of T1, Qin Miao had indeed been put in a very difficult angle by Verstappen to enter the corner.

For other people, the T1 cornering angle at the Circuit of the Americas is about 40°, but Qin Miao's cornering angle is an acute angle of about 31°.

In this case, Qin Miao's cornering angle and acceleration timing after cornering will be far behind other drivers who enter the corner from the outside.

But who is Qin Miao? He is a recognized defensive master in the paddock, a master who has perfect control over his car.

So Qin Miao locked the left front wheel of his car at T1...

That’s right, when Qin Miao entered the T1 turn, the left front wheel with the smallest load was locked.

Then Qin Miao naturally missed the braking point of T1 and braked too late, so the car rushed forward for a distance.

This distance is just right, blocking Verstappen's best route into the corner.

It is impossible for Verstappen not to look at the rearview mirror when entering a corner. After all, he knows that the person who poses the greatest threat to his first world championship in his career this season is Qin Miao.

Naturally, the first thing he did after he reached the braking point and stepped on the brakes was to focus on Qin Miao. Naturally, he also noticed that Qin Miao braked too hard and the white smoke came out of the left front wheel.

But when Verstappen saw Qin Miao locking the left front wheel, he did not feel surprised, nor did he laugh, nor was he surprised.

He was more confused.

Because T1 of the Circuit of the Americas is a big uphill slope, when braking at this position, the pressure on the four tires of the car is actually very evenly distributed.

If we have to say which tire is under greater pressure at this stage, it is probably the front and rear wheels on the right side of the car.

Because there is a big left turn next, more weight of the car will definitely be transferred to the two tires on the right.

The T1 at the Circuit of the Americas is not like the Zandvoort in the Netherlands, where most of the corners have inward camber angles. The T1 at the Circuit of the Americas even has a certain outward camber angle. Therefore, the tire with the least pressure on Qin Miao's car should be his left front wheel.

Therefore, even if Verstappen scratched his head, he couldn't figure out how Qin Miao managed to lock his left front wheel at T1, the corner where the pressure on the left front wheel was the least.

Is this still a fucking mistake?

Are you showing off your skills here?
No matter how Qin Miao operated this time, after Qin Miao's left front wheel was locked, what happened on the track was already very clear.

Verstappen had no space to enter the corner because a Mercedes W14 was inserted in front of his left side.

Qin Miao waited until his car's grip was restored before turning left and returning to the normal rhythm of the race.

To be honest, when Verstappen saw the W14 on his left, he really thought about crashing into it.

I'm going to fight you!

But the problem is, Pan Zi is also very clear that Mercedes' car is almost the toughest car in the entire paddock.

There is a possibility that I may not be able to crash, or even after crashing, I may be knocked out of the race, but Qin Miao's car can still continue to run.

So Pan Zi quickly regained his composure.

Although he was blocked by Qin Miao, Verstappen did not give up his pole position, but instead crossed the line behind Qin Miao.

Although he did not think of taking the cross lane when he saw that the left front wheel of Qin Miao's car was locked, he has been driving for so many years, and many operations that other drivers on the track need to think carefully before performing are basically the same as instinct for people like Verstappen.

Moreover, Qin Miao's exit angle was so small, and there was so much space behind him after exiting the turn, that Verstappen really couldn't think of a reason not to take the intersecting line.

But not long after T1, there was the right turn T2, so Verstappen's attempt could only remain an attempt.

It did not achieve the desired effect.

But it’s worth mentioning.

After the two fought for a long time, the person who really benefited was neither Qin Miao nor Verstappen.

It's Leclerc.

After all, Verstappen pushed Qin Miao directly to the inner side of the track, almost into the maintenance area. That side was the dirty side, and the track was full of tire rubber and dust from the race. It was impossible to speed up there even if you wanted to.

Moreover, Qin Miao's deliberate locking at T1 also interfered with the race rhythm of himself and Verstappen. Both of them could be said to have excellent starting rhythm, but Qin Miao ruined it.

Leclerc, who started third in this race, did not have to face so many troubles.

Leclerc's starting speed is not as fast as Qin Miao and Verstappen, and he has already given up competing with these two gods for first and second place.

But the problem is that you can't resist it. Sometimes God really does chase some people to feed them.

Leclerc could never have imagined that the two players in front of him would fight so fiercely from the beginning of the race. Is the difference of one or two points a big deal?

The fierce fight between the two of them naturally gave Leclerc an opportunity.

When Leclerc entered the T1 corner, there was no obstacle in front of him, and the two guys ran to the inside line.

The center of the best exit point for T1 at the Circuit of the Americas is not on the inner shoulder, but a little outside, which was just given up by these two people.

So while the two were fighting for their lives on the inside, Leclerc was entering and exiting the corners without any pressure on the outside.

After exiting the corner, due to the different angles, accelerations and the cleanliness of the track, Leclerc left the two behind him behind by nearly a second, and entered the T3, T4 and T5 combination corners which were particularly similar to Silverstone.

“Never had such a great start!”

Although the fourth brother knew that it was a bit too early to open the champagne, after seeing these two bastards made such a big mistake at the start, Leclerc couldn't help but cheer out loud.

But you can't deny that Leclerc was indeed lucky this time.

After running for so long, this was the first time he had found such a big leak.

When Qin Miao and Verstappen saw the red Ferrari rushing past them from the outside, they were stunned at first, and then they both began to greet each other frantically in their hearts.

However, the two were not greeting Leclerc who overtook from the outside, but were greeting their opponents who restricted them on the track.

If you don't push me to the inside lane/brake late to block my line at the start, will it be the turn of Leclerc, the fourth guy, to come and make a fuss?

Of course, the person who cursed the most here has to be Verstappen, because he was overtaken by others.

Qin Miao's position did not change at all, he was still second, but Verstappen dropped directly from first to third.

In this fight, there was no winner between him and Qin Miao, but there was a loser, I won’t say who it was. (End of this chapter)